Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Hank Jr. began his career performing his father’s songs and songs in his father’s style — he was something very close to what we would today call a ‘tribute’ act, his life dominated by the memory of a man he barely knew and could never live up to. (The family traditions must have aged him: He released ‘All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down,’ lamenting middle-aged decline, at 32.) And even after Hank Jr. went off to explore new musical directions, he continued to be ‘Bocephus,’ the little wooden man mouthing someone else’s words and dominated by forces beyond his control. The outline of the story is familiar enough, and one might wonder whether J.D. Vance, another obviously troubled son of an absent father, is entirely comfortable with Donald Trump’s hand up his backside working his mouth. It is fortunate for Vance that Trump has such famously diminutive fists.” (01/23/26)